No Confidence in David Benavidez’s Skills, Ryan Garcia Makes a Strong Bet on Canelo Alvarez

Ryan Garcia made it clear. If he has to choose between ‘big brother’ Canelo Alvarez and ‘The Mexican Monster’, then the answer is obvious. It will be the undisputed super middleweight champion, hands-down. The young boxer from California, currently immersed in one of the most scandalous affairs of his professional career, was speaking at the ‘Fresh and Fit’ podcast.

The Canelo Alvarez-David Benavidez conundrum has been one of the most ubiquitous talks of recent times. Despite their name and position, the two most dominant faces of the 168-pound division have yet to enter the ring at opposite corners. More so, the narrative has been standard. While Benavidez has been consistently calling out the P4P great, the latter, many accuse, has yet to reciprocate in kind. Rather, of late, he seems to have laid specific details sine qua non to make the fight with ‘The Mexican Monster’.

Ryan Garcia: No Place for the Monster

“Ryan, if you had to risk your entire fortune on either Canelo or Benavidez, who are you choosing to be victorious? Also, thank you for speaking on the gospel; what’s your favorite Bible story?” thus popped the question as the ‘After Hours w/ Ryan Garcia’ drew to a close.

The former interim lightweight champion started for the second question. ‘The Story of Job,” he said. Then added further, “Canelo, I could take Canelo. Well, that’s entire fortune….” The hosts revealed that David Benavidez had been a guest at their studio. On the matter, he also gave the oft-repeated run-down that the Mexican icon was ‘scared of fighting him’.

“F*ck Benavidez, how about that?” said ‘KingRy’ to a loud and boisterous cheer. One of the hosts said, “They need to make that fight happen, man.” But then the doubt still persists. Why wouldn’t Canelo Alvarez wave a green flag to such a magnum opus?

“He’s on his time. You’re the king; you can do whatever you want!” replied Ryan Garcia. The lead-up to the Haney fight saw the Californian boxer end his long-time feud with Team Canelo. After all, he was a campmate before leaving the side for personal reasons. Fans saw him in the open, supporting Alvarez as the latter joined for the final weigh-in for the Munguia fight.

King to King

The undisputed super middleweight champion, while interacting with the media, told everyone to exercise patience and wait as Ryan Garcia found himself embroiled in a failed drug test controversy. He said, “You need to wait; you don’t need to judge very early. You need to wait and see what happens, and then we can talk about it.”

To many fans, the new-found bonhomie between the former stablemates, now back-to-friends, could come across as a bit surprising. Roughly a month before the Haney fight, speaking on ‘Space’, a fan asked whether it would be a blot on Canelo Alvarez’s legacy if the fight with Benavidez never came about.

‘KingRy’ replied, “You know, I don’t want to really shoot shots at anybody right now. You know, um, look, it would. I have already fought Benavidez, yes, but that’s that’s his own business. I don’t want to I don’t want to you know put it put anybody down. That’s not what I like to do, but um yes I would have already fought Benavidez if I was him.”

Ryan Garcia had placed a request for his sample B to be tested. He heaved a sigh of relief when a secondary analysis cleared him of 19-norandrosterone. Per the initial reports, he returned positive results based on samples collected (A Sample) before and on the fight day for ‘Ostarine’ and (unconfirmed) 19-Norandrosterone.

What’s your take on Ryan Garcia’s statement? Do you believe that David Benavidez should move ahead and not wait for Canelo Alvarez?